Special Occasion Hungarian Salad (Franciasalata) by Helen M. Radics

Well, we are back with our foodie blog, finally. As you know we had to take a “little” detour into the land of insanity that our unfair competitor dragged us into. So, no more. We are back with content that’s important. Our delicious, easy to recreate, decorative recipes. There are hundreds of recipes that you could find in my Mom’s 7 English language Hungarian Cookbooks and 1 (her 1st) Hungarian Language cookbook; and of course a number of e-books both in English and Hungarian.

Special Occasion Hungarian “Salad” by Helen M. Radics – Franciasalata Specialis Alkalmakra. So, today we share with you a very special and decorative “salad”. Yes, it is a salad but not your regular everyday salad. It is a Hungarian specialty that you will fall in love as soon as you see it.

• Cook eggs for 10 minutes, let them cool in cold water. Cook the cubed carrots, potatoes and the peas in lightly salted water until soft but not mushy. Drain and let cool completely. Peel and cubed the apples and coat with some lemon juice.

• Place the vegetables and the apple in a mixing bowl. Mix the mayonnaise, sour cream, pinch of salt, pinch of black pepper and add to the vegetables and the apples; mix gently but coat evenly. Adjust salt if needed.

Step #2

• Heat the soup stock and add the gelatin; keep stirring until dissolved. Put aside to cool.
• Line the meatloaf form with plastic wrap, let it hang out on all sides generously.
• Mix the gelatine/stock into the salad evenly. Make sure that you distribute it properly to ensure setting

Step #3

• Smooth ½ the salad in the bottom of the meatloaf pan; place the hardboiled eggs one-by-one (end-to-end) into the salad
• Cover with the other half of the salad and then with the plastic wrap that is hanging out on the sides and the ends.
• Bang the meatloaf pan to the counter top so the salad is properly filling out the pan.
• Cool in fridge for about 5 hours, best overnight
• The next day flip onto a long serving plate just as you see on my photo; remove the plastic wrap and decorate with flowers cut out of bell peppers and pretty parsley leaves.

We hope you enjoy this lovely recipe. You may make it for special occasions, holidays (such as Christmas), brunch or have a slice for lunch/dinner. Let us know if you have any questions. Bon Appetite!